Angelica923
Member Since 2013
Hello all. I’m hoping for some help/advice for my kitty. Sorry this is so long!
Here’s the situation: this is a male cat, 7.5 years old. He’s a big cat and I knew he was a big overweight but I didn't think it was that much. He’s an indoor cat, has been fed on Purina Indoor formula most of his life with a small amount of canned food. Until recently this was basically 1 can of Meow Mix or Fancy Feast each morning of which he would eat maybe half. The rest was the dry food. A few months ago I started switching his food from the Purina indoor formula to Iams Weight Control. I started with about 5 to 1 ratio or Purina to Iams and slowly added in more and more of the Iams. About 3-4 weeks ago he was at 75% Iams and 25% Purina Indoor Formula. No change in the canned food at that point. I realize now that switching him to Iams was probably a bad move!
About a week and a half ago I started noticing he was drinking a lot more water and within a couple days I saw quite a drastic change in his water drinking and peeing. I took him to the vet and the next day we had results back from the blood work. Everything was fine except for his sugar level was at 500+ (not sure the exact number, I think around 530 or so). He was diagnosed as diabetic and the vet started him on 1 unit of Lantus every 12 hours. She also said I should cut out all dry food and recommended I feed Fancy Feast Classic varieties, twice a day for total of about 350 calories per day. His weight was just over 26 lbs and she wants him to get to around 20 lbs. (last vet visit before this was 2.5 years ago and his weight at the time was 21 lbs. He was already a bit over so probably 18-19 might be a good weight for him eventually). I was worried about starting him on insulin at the same time as switching his food but she said due to his high levels, she thought it best to start him right away with a very small insulin dose for his body weight.
This is now a week later. He’s been doing fine, eats his canned food well. I can’t really get him to eat 2 x a day so I modified this a bit with smaller meals throughout the day. I have more questions about this but will skip over this for now. Other than the excessive water drinking before the vet visit, his behavior was always pretty normal. The excessive drinking stopped right away after starting the insulin and his behavior continues to be normal, eating well, affectionate, normal activity levels for him, etc.
My follow-up visit to the vet was today and his blood sugar was checked about 6 hours after the shot (about 10 minutes shy of the 6 hours). His blood sugar was at 136. His weight was 23.6. Vet’s directions were to continue the 1 unit of Lantus and bring him back in 2 weeks for a re-check.
So now I’m concerned about a couple things…first, I’ve read that it’s not good for cats to lose weight too quickly. One place I read said they should lose no more than ½ lb per month or risk some kind of liver disease. I actually didn’t get to talk to the vet but talked to the assistant but it didn’t appear there was any concern about the quick weight loss. I do plan to call the vet with questions but thought I would ask here because I’m not sure what to think. Also, with the lower blood level now, I'm more concerned about a low blood sugar episode (this hasn't happened as yet, just worried that it might). Since I give him the shot at 6am and leave for work around 7:30am, I am worried he could go too low when I’m not around. Same thing at night when I’m sleeping. I’ve read here about home testing and I’m planning to get a monitor on Friday and see if I can brave myself to do this over the weekend. Meanwhile, should I continue to do the 1 unit every 12 hours as directed? I know it would be best to get the blood sugar level before doing the shot but unfortunately I have to wait till payday in order to get the monitor and supplies. I’m not even sure he will let me do it so not sure how successful that will be. If I can’t get his levels, do I still continue to give him the shots? I would really appreciate some advice!
Thank you in advance for reading this and any advice you can give.
Here’s the situation: this is a male cat, 7.5 years old. He’s a big cat and I knew he was a big overweight but I didn't think it was that much. He’s an indoor cat, has been fed on Purina Indoor formula most of his life with a small amount of canned food. Until recently this was basically 1 can of Meow Mix or Fancy Feast each morning of which he would eat maybe half. The rest was the dry food. A few months ago I started switching his food from the Purina indoor formula to Iams Weight Control. I started with about 5 to 1 ratio or Purina to Iams and slowly added in more and more of the Iams. About 3-4 weeks ago he was at 75% Iams and 25% Purina Indoor Formula. No change in the canned food at that point. I realize now that switching him to Iams was probably a bad move!
About a week and a half ago I started noticing he was drinking a lot more water and within a couple days I saw quite a drastic change in his water drinking and peeing. I took him to the vet and the next day we had results back from the blood work. Everything was fine except for his sugar level was at 500+ (not sure the exact number, I think around 530 or so). He was diagnosed as diabetic and the vet started him on 1 unit of Lantus every 12 hours. She also said I should cut out all dry food and recommended I feed Fancy Feast Classic varieties, twice a day for total of about 350 calories per day. His weight was just over 26 lbs and she wants him to get to around 20 lbs. (last vet visit before this was 2.5 years ago and his weight at the time was 21 lbs. He was already a bit over so probably 18-19 might be a good weight for him eventually). I was worried about starting him on insulin at the same time as switching his food but she said due to his high levels, she thought it best to start him right away with a very small insulin dose for his body weight.
This is now a week later. He’s been doing fine, eats his canned food well. I can’t really get him to eat 2 x a day so I modified this a bit with smaller meals throughout the day. I have more questions about this but will skip over this for now. Other than the excessive water drinking before the vet visit, his behavior was always pretty normal. The excessive drinking stopped right away after starting the insulin and his behavior continues to be normal, eating well, affectionate, normal activity levels for him, etc.
My follow-up visit to the vet was today and his blood sugar was checked about 6 hours after the shot (about 10 minutes shy of the 6 hours). His blood sugar was at 136. His weight was 23.6. Vet’s directions were to continue the 1 unit of Lantus and bring him back in 2 weeks for a re-check.
So now I’m concerned about a couple things…first, I’ve read that it’s not good for cats to lose weight too quickly. One place I read said they should lose no more than ½ lb per month or risk some kind of liver disease. I actually didn’t get to talk to the vet but talked to the assistant but it didn’t appear there was any concern about the quick weight loss. I do plan to call the vet with questions but thought I would ask here because I’m not sure what to think. Also, with the lower blood level now, I'm more concerned about a low blood sugar episode (this hasn't happened as yet, just worried that it might). Since I give him the shot at 6am and leave for work around 7:30am, I am worried he could go too low when I’m not around. Same thing at night when I’m sleeping. I’ve read here about home testing and I’m planning to get a monitor on Friday and see if I can brave myself to do this over the weekend. Meanwhile, should I continue to do the 1 unit every 12 hours as directed? I know it would be best to get the blood sugar level before doing the shot but unfortunately I have to wait till payday in order to get the monitor and supplies. I’m not even sure he will let me do it so not sure how successful that will be. If I can’t get his levels, do I still continue to give him the shots? I would really appreciate some advice!
Thank you in advance for reading this and any advice you can give.
